Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania expressed serious concern at "trials against the participants in the events of 19 December 2010, including the decision, adopted by Minsk court on May 14, having convicted one of the candidates, participated in the presidential elections in Belarus, Andrei Sannikov." This is officially stated by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry.
«He was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly organizing post-election protests. Freedom of assembly is a basic democratic right, so this imprisonment contrary to the obligations of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on human rights and fundamental freedoms», — the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania .
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry recalled that Vilnius had repeatedly called for the official Minsk to «immediately stop the persecution of the Belarusian opposition, media and civil society, to initiate a dialogue with the international community and fulfill its OSCE commitments.»
«For the courts of the demonstrators on December 19 in The representatives of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, as well as diplomats, are monitoring the situation in Belarus. The Bureau will report on the observation to the OSCE member-countries,» noted the Minister.
